CRTC Denies French-Language Version of AUX TV

Some interesting news in the media world this week, as Canadian TV network AUX had their application to run a Quebec-based French-language version of the station denied by the CRTC.

According to a statement on the AUX site, the CRTC said that the new TV station would be competition with Canada's long-running French-language station, MusiquePlus. Aux is saying that those claims are "ridiculous," citing that the two stations are different enough - AUX's main focus is on helping emerging artists - that it shouldn't be considered competition.

The majority decision of my fellow commissioners to deny GlassBox Television Inc. (GlassBOX) the setting up of a national, French-language service dedicated to emerging music is to me both surprising and deeply disappointing, as it will have the effect of putting young Francophone artists in this country at a disadvantage relative to emerging Anglophone artists. Without the French-language stage proposed by GlassBOX, emerging Francophone artists will have no other choice but to subscribe to and appear on the other AUX TV, GlassBOX's English-language Category 2 specialty service dedicated to emerging music. The Commission's overly cautious decision, rooted in its concern over the competition [MusiquePlus owners] Groupe Astral would face, fails to mention that neither of the specialty services MusiquePlus and MusiMax in Quebec - both owned by Groupe Astral - is dedicated to emerging music.